Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper greets two giant pandas last week. (via @PMHarper)
It was panda-monium last week in Toronto as Canada welcomed the arrival of two giant pandas on loan from China. And comedian Rick Mercer wasn’t too impressed, using his show’s ‘Rant’ segment to make fun of the event.
“By the looks of it the 21st century may be ours because, thanks to Stephen Harper, our country Canada, the true north strong and free, has pandas,” he said. “And not just any pandas — giant pandas from China. Well, they’re not our pandas. They’re rental pandas. But at ten million bucks, they are awesome.”
Mercer even took the CBC, his show’s own network, to task for their enthusiastic coverage of the event.
“And kudos to my friends at the CBC News Network for their exhaustive coverage because I’m too young to remember the moon landing or the end of the Second World War so it’s nice to know what those events must have felt like,” he joked.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper came under fire from critics last week after attending the panda’s arrival ceremony instead of meeting with a group of Aboriginal youth who had walked to parliament hill in support of the Idle No More movement. Others have criticized the cost of the bears’ loan, which was arranged in a show of diplomatic friendship.
It’s not every day I get to sign for a #panda ow.ly/joHBV ow.ly/joHGy @fedexcanada #FedExPanda
— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) March 25, 2013
What I learned this week: Feds put higher priority on renting #pandas at $10m+ than on helping global drought victims #cdnpoli
— Michael Shapcott (@michaelshapcott) March 30, 2013
@pmharper @fedexcanada It seems as though the hundreds of youth that walked for 2 mos are invisible to PM.#nishiyuu #idlenomore
— Shelley Essaunce (@shelleyshell4) March 25, 2013
Mr Harper feeds Pandas bamboo, for us it’s bamboozle…
— Bob Rae (@bobraeMP) March 25, 2013